Ranking Seahawks roster before 2023 training camp: Nos. 10-1
SEATTLE – We’ve come to the end of our Seahawks roster countdown.
That means two things – we are about to present the top 10 players on the countdown, and that training camp is now at hand.
The Seahawks are set for their first on-field practice Wednesday afternoon.
10. Running back Kenneth Walker III
Potential role in 2023: Starting tailback.
Why he’s ranked here: Do running backs really matter? While that debate has been raging throughout the NFL of late, head coach Pete Carroll has certainly given evidence to how much he thinks they matter with the investments the team has made in draft picks at the position through the years, including taking Walker in the second round in 2022. And certainly, the Seahawks seemed like a better team last year when Walker was running well, going 5-1 in games in which he rushed for 97 yards or more. Walker finished second in AP Offensive Rookie of the Year voting after rushing for 1,050 yards overall. He’ll be counted on to produce similarly in 2023, even though he now has the help of second-round pick Zach Charbonnet.
9. Linebacker/edge Uchenna Nwosu
Potential role in 2023: Starting edge/outside linebacker.
Why he’s ranked here: Nwosu was everything the team hoped he’d be in the first season of his two-year deal worth up to $19.06 million he signed in 2022, tying for the team lead in sacks with 9.5 and leading the team with 26 quarterback hits, tied for ninth most in the NFL. But expectations for what Nwosu can produce will be even higher after he signed a three-year contract extension on Monday, with the total deal said to be worth up to $52 million, with $32 million reported as guaranteed.
8. Left tackle Charles Cross
Potential role in 2023: Starting left tackle.
Why he’s ranked here: After being taken ninth overall in 2022 with a pick acquired in the Russell Wilson deal, Cross showed every sign of being the best left tackle the team has had since Russell Okung left after the 2015 season (for now, comparisons to Walter Jones are still a little unfair). Cross played all but two kneel-down snaps last year in also displaying the kind of durability the Seahawks have so desperately craved at left tackle.
7. Cornerback Riq Woolen
Potential role in 2023: Starting right cornerback.
Why he’s ranked here: Woolen, now officially known as Riq on the team’s roster, was one of the surprise players in the NFL last season, going from the 153rd overall pick to becoming the first Seahawk defensive rookie to make the Pro Bowl since Lofa Tatupu in 2005 and tying for the league lead in interceptions with six. But Woolen showed a little bit of rookie inconsistency, particularly in the playoff loss to the 49ers, meaning that for as good as he was a year ago, there’s still some room to grow, which can only excite the Seahawks that much more.
6. Defensive lineman Dre’Mont Jones
Potential role in 2023: Starting defensive end.
Why he’s ranked here: Seattle’s attempt to remake its defensive line for the better this season was highlighted by the signing of Jones to a three-year contract worth just over $51 million, the most the Seahawks have paid an external free agent. The contract is written in a way that Seattle could easily get out of it after the second season and $34 million. But that doesn’t mitigate that the Seahawks have paid handsomely in the short term in the hope that Jones will be the kind of dynamic playmaker up front Seattle has lacked most of the past five seasons.
5. Linebacker Bobby Wagner
Potential role in 2023: Starting middle linebacker.
Why he’s ranked here: Bobby’s back, if somehow you hadn’t heard, and expected to again man the middle of Seattle’s defense. We’ll see if the inevitable march of time – Wagner is 33 – catches up to him in any way this season. Regardless, the Seahawks are banking heavily on his leadership and experience guiding the defense to smooth out some of the problems that arose a year ago.
4. Receiver Tyler Lockett
Potential role in 2023: Starting receiver.
Why he’s ranked here: Lockett, now 31, has no guaranteed money left on a contract that runs through 2025, and hugely escalating cap numbers the next two years – from $11.06 million in 2023 to $26.9 million in 2024 and 2025 – that in essence make this something of a prove-it year. But Lockett has shown nothing to indicate a drop-off is near, topping the 1,000-yard mark for the fourth straight season in 2022 while becoming the only player in the NFL with at least eight touchdown catches in each of the past five seasons.
3. Safety Quandre Diggs
Potential role in 2023: Starting free safety.
Why he’s ranked here: Diggs, whose $18.1 million cap hit is the second highest on the team, showed his worth last season by being named to the Pro Bowl for a third straight season. He shook off some rust early in the year left over from an ankle/leg injury the year before to intercept four passes in the final seven games, including making the key play in the regular-season finale win against the Rams that got Seattle to the playoffs. Seattle is counting on another year of steady production and leadership from Diggs with a lot of other spots in the secondary still to be settled.
2. Receiver DK Metcalf
Potential role in 2023: Starting receiver.
Why he’s ranked here: Metcalf has the highest cap hit of any offensive player on the team this season at $13.72 million. The Seahawks will be expecting another season of production on par with what got him that deal, even with the addition of Jaxon Smith-Njigba. To cite one stat that helped earn Metcalf that contract, he is the fifth player in NFL history to reach 50 receptions, 900 yards and five touchdowns in each of his first four seasons, the others being 1995 Seahawks first-round draft pick Joey Galloway, A.J. Green, Randy Moss and Michael Thomas.
1. Quarterback Geno Smith
Potential role in 2023: Starting quarterback.
Why he’s ranked here: Smith being considered as the most valuable Seahawk a year after he was battling Drew Lock for the starting QB job? Well, this offseason has proved more than ever that quarterbacks are considered the most important player on any NFL team. And if a team has a good one, it goes an awful long way toward solving a lot of other problems. Smith showed in 2022 he is a QB who can produce wins. He got a contract rewarding him for that season, while also still structured in a way that the Seahawks can get out of it after the 2023 season if they want to. So, consider Smith both as now having the confidence to know he can be one of the best QBs in the NFL after what was essentially a seven-year layoff, while also still having something to prove. The Seahawks hope that will prove to be the best of both worlds.